So I have a thing about black and white--and sometimes just black. Being able to give nuance to the absence of color, to the void (to get all philosophical). It implies skill for an artist to be able to take black and make it mean something, make it move you. Arguments can be made for other colors, used against white, for their drama or intensity. But there is something about black, white and those shades between, those greys that turn up best as backgrounds in photos.

Look at Ed Ruscha's Rooster below. There is something haunting and universal about it; its starkness and subject is iconic. You can decide on the specifics of the iconography on your own.

_ Ruscha is from Omaha and later moved to Oklahoma in the 1940s. He lives in Los Angeles these days. He works in a number of media. He has been shown in museums such as the Centre Georges Pompidou, Museum of Contemporary Art (LA), the National Gallery in D.C., the Jeu de Paume and many others.

Painter, photographer, and member of The American Academy of Arts, Ruscha has published books of his writing and interviews and a comprehensive monograph.

Two more pieces were displayed, also by Richard Gray Gallery--Sex and Howl, with the latter resembling Rooster in theme if not color.